Towards the Discovery of New Elements: Production of Livermorium (Z=116) with 50Ti

The \(^{244}\)Pu(\(^{50}\)Ti,\(xn\))\(^{294-x}\)Lv reaction was investigated at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's 88-Inch Cyclotron facility. The experiment was aimed at the production of a superheavy element with \(Z\ge 114\) by irradiating an actinide target with a beam heavier than \(^{48}\)Ca. Produced Lv ions were separated from the unwanted beam and nuclear reaction products using the Berkeley Gas-filled Separator and implanted into a newly commissioned focal plane detector system. Two decay chains were observed and assigned to the decay of \(^{290}\)Lv. The production cross section was measured to be \(\sigma_{\rm prod}=0.44(^{+58}_{-28})\)~pb at a center-of-target center-of-mass energy of 220(3)~MeV. This represents the first published measurement of the production of a superheavy element near the `Island-of-Stability', with a beam of \(^{50}\)Ti and is an essential precursor in the pursuit of searching for new elements beyond \(Z=118\).